She was The First to Die
by CrimsonButterfly726
Summary: "Let's just wait it out; We can be all poetic and lose our minds together."
1. The Way It Was

**So it has been bugging me that I have yet to see anything of Riley and Ellie's adventure the night they were bitten so I decided to write my own. Also, I know this chapter is kinda short and brief but it gets better... At least I think it does.**

**Also the idea wouldn't leave for the life of me.**

**Anyways, here it goes. Hope you enjoy.**

**I may continue this; not sure yet.**

**I do not own anything form "The Last of Us." That brilliance belongs to Naughty Dog.**

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It was just like any other night that they would sneak off the zone and outside of tall walls that blocked them off from whatever was left of the world. It would always start out the same way; she would hear three quick quiet knocks on her door and the shuffling of feet running away from the door. She opened her emerald eyes instantly as she moved into routine. She would pull back her auburn hair into a tight ponytail, put on her dark green jacket and slip out of her room without a sound. As she tip toed to the end of the hall, she would see her caramel colored best friend looking around bored as if she was taking too long. When she would see her finally arrive, she would only smirk and motion her to follow. They would sneak past the bright search lights and guards, while avoiding the dogs from picking up their scents. They tried to make as little noise as possible from their sneakers as they ran through back alleys and climbed over buildings. When they reached the edge of the safety net that enclosed them from the things outside, one would climb up the fence and help the other to the top. As always they looked over the little community because there was always that chance that they were never going to come back.

"You ready to go?" was all her friend asked.

"Yeah; hurry up before someone sees us."

They both jumped down from the gate with a loud cling and ran off into the darkness. It wasn't until the searchlights looked like tiny blinking fireflies, did they switch on their flashlights and walk through the ruins of the old city. They had been doing this for almost two months now and they had gone through almost every run down building that looked interesting enough to check out. There were some guards posted at different areas, but they always found a hole small enough to slide through without being noticed.

"So Riley, what's on your list today?" Ellie finally asked when they reached the halfway point between the Quarantine Zone and the remains of the city.

"Hm, I'm not sure; I feel extra adventurous tonight…" Riley stroked her chin as she looked up at the night sky.

"I got it," she snapped her fingers and smiled, "let's go check out that mall west of here!"

"Are you fucking crazy?! That place is strictly off limits; it's most guarded area in the city!" Ellie immediately shook her head.

"If you're going to become a chickenshit about it, then go home."

"I'm not a chickenshit." Ellie defended herself as she pushed her.

"Well then prove it. Let's go."

Riley walked ahead with her flashlight pointed down on the broken asphalt with Ellie following behind, rolling her eyes and cursing under her breath. They walked in silence as they passed through the rows of rotting cars and debris made from discarded clothes, boxes, and bodies of both Infected and civilian. Nature began to put its grip around most of the city as tall grass cracked through the roads and pavements. Cars had started to grow moss on the roofs and engines were showing signs of rust and decay. It was the only world they had ever known. Anything before that time was seen through old photographs people saved from when the outbreak first struck. It looked like something out of a fantasy book to them. Ellie kept her eyes straight forward when they passed by the rows of dead bodies that lay across the grounds. Some were covered over with dirty blankets or old jackets. She walked closer behind Riley, who didn't give it a second thought. When they reached a couple hundred feet from their destination, they switched off their flashlights and let their eyes adjust to the darkness as they navigated through the trees surrounding it. There guards posted around every corner of the perimeter and looked about with half alert movements.

"They must be the graveyard shift; come on, we need to hurry before they rotate." Riley looked behind her while lowering the hood to see her friends face better.

"Ok; lead the way." Ellie smirked.

"Now that's more like it." Riley winked and took off first.

They clung to the heavy darkness as a security blanket until Riley found a narrow blind spot and sprinted until she saw a small opening within the wall and slid into it. Ellie waited behind a thick bush as she waited for her to give some sort of signal that it was safe. As the guard turned to the opposite direction, she saw a dark hand pop out and motion forward. Ellie mimicked her movements and slid into the small hole just as Riley had. Once they were inside, they searched for something to block the hole, which ended up being a big wooden box that was light enough to move without making too much noise. They navigated in the darkness for a while, with their hands on the crumbled walls to give some sort of direction. When they saw the first sign of the moon shining through, they crawled towards it and crawled out the small hole that opened up to a big sqaure with many shops that were either caved in or barely standing. They both stood in amazement as they looked around the area. The roof had crumbled in some areas and there were a lot of little shops and different types of stairs that connected the two floors together. It was eerily quiet except for the muffled talking of soldiers and the chirping of crickets.

"Where do we even start?" Ellie asked.

Riley closed her eyes and pointed in a random direction.

"This way." She ordered when she opened her eyes.

Riley ran off quickly with Ellie trying to keep with her excited friend. If only they had paid attention to the amount of Runners that were lurking about, maybe things wouldn't have turned out the way they did.

But everything happens for a reason.


	2. Girl's Night Out

**So I decided to continue this. Mainly because I haven't been able to write anything since.**

** I hope you guys enjoy it :)**

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"I heard from the adults that kids our age used to spend all their time and energy in getting to this place and for what?" Riley frowned as she pulled out a dirty covered neon pink shirt. "Something that says… 'Sleep all day, Party all night' in big silver letters?"

"And? So what?" Ellie shrugged as she walked over to look at the material her friend was holding.

"So what? This is fucking stupid! I mean did girls really need to have that on a shirt or… have this half naked woman on the front?" Riley questioned as she pulled out another shirt from the pile.

"Whaaat? No way." She took the shirt form her and looked it over.

Riley rolled up the shirts and threw them back at the top of the pile that sat in the middle of the room. She looked around the rest of the small shop, while Ellie abandoned the pile as well to look over at what was marked as 'Jewelry'. Most of it was broken however, with busted faux pearl necklaces, rusted out chains and rhinestones missing from the sockets of earrings. Riley was looking over the 'Novelties' section, but didn't find anything interesting or worth mentioning. It was all just a bunch of expired giant gummy bears, unicorn stickers, and little plushies.

"What the hell...? Ellie, explain to me why a cat with a pop tart body was considered cool?" She called while holding up on the faded stickers.

"I think it's safe to assume everyone was just on drugs." Ellie raised an eyebrow.

After standing there for a few minutes in silence, Riley walked out of the shop while grabbing hold of her friends arm. They walked past the shops that were caved in or were clear out of whatever it used to hold. They went into a different shop that looked like the inside of someone's garage but quickly dismissed that it had anything to do with what could actually be in a garage. There were remains of what looked like drinking games and shirts with blunt profanity written in big bold letters. They laughed at some and were confused by others. In the back of the shop were nothing but corsets and lingerie and what they safely assumed was interesting ways for people to get "it" on. Riley took down one of the lingerie outfits and held it up against herself.

"What the fuck? Why would you even wear this, it looks so damn uncomfortable."

"Maybe that was the idea." Ellie laughed when she read over some of the sayings that were plastered on ripped panties.

"…Girls back then were sluts." Riley stated as if it was a new fact.

"Can we please go somewhere more interesting; I'm tired of looking at stupid clothes." Ellie folded her arms.

Riley laughed as she threw the outfit on the floor.

"Aww is wittle Ellie embarrassed?" she cooed as she lightly pinched her cheek.

"Shut up," Ellie pushed her, "let's just go."

They both stared at each other before breaking into a smile. As usual, Riley led the way with Ellie walking beside her. She looked around and started noticing that the place was too quiet… They hadn't heard a Runner or a Clicker since they got in here. But maybe they should be counting their blessings that they didn't hear anything. Ellie looked overhead to the decaying second floor. There were only a few shops available to go through. Maybe Riley will lead them up there later. As far as guards patrolling from inside the place, there weren't any. They must've stopping patrolling inside to save men and since no one has tried to sneak in since the first couple of years of the outbreak. Riley had stopped walking suddenly, making Ellie bump into her. Riley only turned her slightly and shrugged. She pointed two fingers out to the shops that were set up next to each other. One was a bookstore, the other a music shop.

"You pick." Riley stated.

Ellie's eyes lit up. Finally, something that was worth paying attention to; but which one? Ellie then copied Riley's way for making decisions. She put her hand over her eyes and pointed back and forth between the two of them quickly until she made her arm abruptly stop. She looked from in between her fingers to see what choice she had made. It was the bookstore. When she looked over to her friend, she only nodded and went inside. The name at the top of the store had completely fallen apart leaving only two "E's" that were hanging by black wires. The inside was littered from random pages of books and empty wrappers from food. Shelves were thrown over and the smell of rotting wood clung to the air. Riley wandered to the right, looking over what looked like old History books and maps, while Ellie went left and got the pile of comics and fictional books. Most of them had deteriorated and the slightest touch made them crumble apart. The ones there were in more of a stable condition were just a bunch of stupid teen books that made Ellie gag and throw them on the floor.

"What is it about these girls and falling in love with vampires? So stupid." Ellie muttered to herself as she tossed another to the ground.

Well so much for finding something interesting or exciting to read. She turned her flashlight over to Riley's direction that was looking over a book with a missing cover and a broken spine. She looked at it thoughtfully before looking up at Ellie's looking light.

"Hey Ellie; would you rather… have the power to read minds or… have the power to make anyone fall in love with you?"

"The fuck is that?"

"It's some game where you pick between one of the two choices. It's supposed to be some really fun game to play with friends… Or at least that's what it says on the back." Riley turned the book over.

"Well… I'd rather read minds; seems a hell of a lot cooler than making people love me." Ellie looked at her like it was stupid question.

"True, true…" Riley began turning through the ripped pages, "what about… would you rather get a glimpse, while still living, of heaven or hell?"

There was a long silence between them.

"Right… I think we all know the answer to that one." Riley sighed as she turned quickly through the pages again.

Ellie grew bored of the bookstore and walked over to the record shop, while Riley was still nose deep in that book. The music store had a broken floor along with broken glass and cases that made the floor look like a broken mirror house. The ceiling was missing entirely that she could see the next floor up. There were metal baskets filled with all kinds of CD's and broken headphones. On the wall to the right were old vinyl records that had a ripped paper sign that once read "Sale" above it. Ellie looked through the records slowly, admiring the artwork, and studying the names. She wished that there was a way to listen to them but most of them were ruined and rotting, and even if she found a decent one, there wasn't anything to play them on. Riley snuck up behind her and read the current record she was on.

"You really do have shitty taste in music." She said suddenly.

Ellie jumped and gasped loud as she felt the fear run down her spine, she quickly back stepped to the side and pulled out her butterfly knife. Riley couldn't help but laugh as she dropped her book and held onto her sides.

"Hey hey no need to get all offended now." She laughed harder.

"You scared the shit out of me! Don't do that!" Ellie relaxed as she lowered her guard and put a hand over her chest.

"Don't be a little chickenshit."

"Almost giving someone a fucking heart attack doesn't make them a chickenshit." Ellie glared.

Riley waved her off as she took in a deep breath of air as her laughing slowed. Suddenly a loud crashing loud came from inside the shop as one of the displays rattled from Ellie lightly bumping into it and crashing on the floor. The shattering of plastic and discs rang throughout the shop and even outside through the mall. Riley and Ellie stiffened as they waited to hear something. They heard two sets of clicks coming from upstairs and the shuffling of feet on their floor. It didn't seem like the guards were fazed by the noise because they didn't hear any of them bust down the door or breaking open one of the walls. Ellie's breath started to become shaky as she tried to keep quiet, while Riley remained calm and looked around with alertness. She didn't realize that there was one of the Infected coming up behind her.

"Riley look out!" Ellie shouted.

Her friend turned slightly and dodged just in time to miss the Infected's rotting teeth. She fell back and scooted away from it while Ellie ran over to her in order to help her up. But this one was fast and charged at them. Riley tried standing up with Ellie's help but she knew that her friend was going to end getting bit, so she shoved Ellie into one of the racks of CD's and used a rusted pipe she found next to her to fend off the Infected. It bit at her violently, trying to outstretch his neck to get closer to the living flesh. Riley held the pipe against its throat, making it noises sound more disgusting than they already did. Ellie stood but immediately took a knee when she felt that one of the shards of glass had pierced her leg. The pain was intense and Ellie could barely move but she couldn't just watch Riley get eaten by that thing. She looked around for something to throw and found an empty beer bottle.

"Hey asshole! Over here!" She yelled as she threw it at its head.

It looked up menacingly as its attention diverted from Riley to the injured Ellie. Her emerald eyes started to water with tears from the pain but she ignored it as she kept herself fixed on the Infected. It got up and started charging for her. Riley dove into action quickly as she jumped up and onto its back while using her own butterfly knife to stab it into the head multiple times until it dropped to the floor with her underneath. When it stopped convulsing, she kicked it off and rushed over to Ellie.

"Ellie! Ellie are you ok?!"

"Aside from having a heart attack, almost shitting my pants and this glass shard jammed into my leg… I'm fine." Ellie breathed out as she tried to relax.

Riley looked over the wound and tried to touch the shard but Ellie immediately winced in pain. She frowned.

"Well it's really in there, but if we can pull it out we can use of those stupid shirts in that one shop to dress it and then we can—

"Riley!"

But the warning came too late. The other Runner came up too fast, yet all of it happened in slow motion in front of Ellie. It sank its horrible teeth into Riley's neck and her scream of pain and terror rang throughout the entire mall. It all happened so fast and deathly slow as Ellie used all of her strength to pull out the glass shard since her knife was nowhere to be found. It stung and burned as she pulled it out also cutting into her hand as she gripped hard on it. She yelled and stabbed it in the neck but it still had one more bite left in him. It latched onto Ellie's arm hard. It was her turn to scream in pain as she tried to pull it off. She then took a hold of the shard again and kept stabbing it over and over until it too fell to the ground twitching. There was a long and horrible silence as they both look at the Runner and then to each other.

"Holy shit." Ellie said quietly.

They were bitten… and they didn't know what to do.


	3. Bittten

**Ok so this is the final chapter! Yay! Now that I finally have this out of my system..**

** Thanks for all the positive feedback guys, y'all are awesome :)**

**Enjoy this last chapter :)**

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"Fuck… fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! What the fuck?!" Ellie kept saying over and over again as she paced around the girl's restroom of the mall.

They didn't waste time dwelling on their situation at first. Riley knew they needed to hide somewhere from the other Infected that were probably lurking around. She guided Ellie to many places but they didn't feel safe enough. She knew she needed to find a place soon because she when she looked over to Ellie, she was hanging by a thin thread from crying and freaking out. Her eyes darted quickly as she tried to adjust to the darkness, the deeper they went in. Riley was the only one with a weapon so she tried to kill of most of the Infected before telling Ellie it was safe. As they ran through the broken hallway, Riley finally found something that might be suitable enough. She grabbed Ellie's hand and ran faster until they burst the door of the girl's restroom. Riley pushed Ellie down into the room as she locked the door. She knew it wasn't going to make a difference but she needed to have some sense of security if not for Ellie's sake.

"What the fuck do we do?!" Ellie found a new phrase to keep saying as she paced.

Riley sat up against the wall as she held a hand over her bite. She kept a brave face, which made it hard for Ellie to tell if she even cared about what had happened of not. Fear had put Ellie's heart in forever panic, never slowing down. Her stomach felt in a state for freefall as her breathing was shallow and quick. Riley just shook her head as she looked toward the door.

"Shut up Ellie. Freaking out isn't going to help any."

"How the fuck can you be so calm about this?!" Ellie turned to her friend with her emerald eyes wide.

"Because I know when we are fucked and to call it quits."

"Maybe it wasn't so bad; maybe we aren't infected and—

"It's over Ellie! We are fucked and there is nothing we can do about it!" Riley finally stood up and got in her friends face.

"You know just as well as I do that there has never been a case where someone was just fine after getting bit!" She continued as she could feel herself start to slip into panic.

But when she saw her friend's eyes well up in tears when she sighed and looked down. What was she supposed to say? She wasn't going to sugar coat it. Riley then pulled her into a hug and felt Ellie's tears hit her shoulders. She was scared too, horrified even, but there was still a way to make this alright.

"Let's try and not be sad about this." Riley said as she wiped some of Ellie's tears.

"How the hell …?"

"Well I don't have the heart to kill you and you don't have the heart to kill me and we don't have gun to just shoot ourselves so…Let's just wait this out."

"You mean just turn?" Ellie said with no emotion.

"It could be like an epic thing. Y'know we can be all poetic and just lose our minds together." Riley smiled, trying to cheer up her friend even in this doomed situation.

Ellie looked up and nodded. If she had to turn into one of those things, then she was glad that she wasn't alone. She was glad to have Riley with her. As they silently agreed to accept their fate, they both sat next to each other against the dirty wall, and waited for the effects of the bite to hold…

**Hour One**

So far it was just hurt for the both of them. They at themselves through shattered mirrors and making themselves laugh at the faces they would make into them to pass the time. Riley remembered quite a bit from the book she was reading before and they played that stupid question game she ran out of things to question each other about... It was quiet from on the outside; looks like the Infected stopped searching for the noise and went back to their normal state. Ellie held onto her arm that was bitten and looked it over; so far it looked like nothing more than a gash. Riley felt along her neck until the indention of the bite mark.

"Riley?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad that I met you."

"Don't get all sappy on me, chickenshit."

Ellie lightly pushed her friend but it didn't feel as hard as it used to. She would normally get all defensive and then try to prove that she wasn't a coward. Riley sighed as she looked up at the broken sinks in front of her. Though she was never going to say it to Ellie now, she honestly glad she had met her too… Maybe that will be the last thing she says before they completely loses her mind. She nodded silently to herself as she pulled her knees to her chest.

**Hour Three**

Ellie's arm had started to mutate. Boils were starting from around the bite as her veins started popping up. It burned but it wasn't unbearable… yet.

"How're holing up?" her voice softly echoed throughout the room

"I-I'm alright."

Riley's breath was starting to sound shallow. Her infected wound was mutating much faster than her best friends. Her gash had started swelling up with bigger boils forming around it. Some of her skin was starting to die of as well, leaving it looking dry and grey colored as patches of skin fluttered onto her jacket. Her burning sensation felt like someone had put a hot iron rod against the wound. She felt equally hot tears falling from her dry eyes as she dug her dirt covered nails into her palms; but she never showed it on her face. The only thing Ellie could tell was that she was crying but other than that her face was emotionless. Riley couldn't show her pain to Ellie for she needed to be the strong one for the both of them.

"You know… whenever I thought about how I was going to die… I thought it would be in this badass fight with Clickers and I was doing some heroic act… not slowly turning inside some broken down restroom…" Riley chuckled as she let her hair fall from the bun she always kept it up in.

Ellie never realized how curly it was. It fell just below her shoulders, concealing where she was bitten. Riley looked over and pulled out Ellie's black hair tie. Hers fell around the same length but was straight except for the mark the hair tie left in her auburn hair.

"I like your hair down… Might as well look somewhat pretty as we wait to turn into monsters…"

Ellie couldn't stand this talk. She hated hearing Riley act like this; she could at least lighten up the mood or something. But how can she? What difference would it make? She dug through her jacket pockets until she felt the cold metal against her fingers. As she pulled out her walkman, she plugged the headphones in and turned the volume all the way up. She pressed the green sideways triangle and placed it between them with the speakers facing them. Riley looked down as she strained to hear something. The music was faint and no words could be heard, but the beat of drums played perfectly. Riley sighed as she put her arms behind her head.

"Your taste in music is still shitty, but I guess it will do." She softly chuckled

Ellie rolled her eyes as she stood up to stretch her legs. When Riley saw that as a good idea, she tried to stand as well, but she couldn't feel her legs. At first she thought they were asleep but when she smacked her hand against them, they were no feeling, not even the slightest sting. She looked back up at Ellie was standing without any trouble. Maybe hers was acting up faster because she was bitten first. Yeah, that's what it was. Ellie looked over the large rectangular room they were in and looked through four of the stalls that were there. The first three didn't have anything of value or interest; just broken toilets, tiles, and rusted plumbing pipes. The last stall she checks however had the remains of a dead corpse that had almost looked decomposed, laying on the ground face first. It made Ellie's heart jump with a start as she looked up to see a dried blood stain that had exploded all over the stall. How did this thing not smell she had thought to herself. Next to the body was a revolver with only one bullet, when Ellie opened to check. She sighed. So much for trying to find an easy way out. She examined carefully, turning it over in her hands.

"Hey Ellie?"

"Hm?"

"Is it hurting you at all?"

Now that she thought about it, the burning had actually subsided when she stood up. She looked down to her arm to see that it never mutated any further. She looked at it confused and then back to her friend, who looked just as puzzled. Maybe the effects were different on different people? There was no way she was going to survive this; no one ever does. When Riley didn't get a response, she just sighed and smiled weakly.

"You know what? This isn't that bad."

Riley put the headphones over her ears to drown out the screaming silence. Ellie started humming her own song to keep the dark thoughts at bay. But there was still something that neither of them could shake; while Riley could feel her mind slowly deteriorating, such as not being able to feel her legs, and now losing feeling in her fingers, Ellie as still able to move around and looked like she wasn't in any pain at all. Something wasn't right, but they weren't sure how to take it as.

**Hour Five**

The walkman had been on the floor silent for the past hour ever since the song had ended. Neither one of them bothered to turn it back on. Riley was starting to have very difficult time breathing and could barely keep her eyes open. Her mouth felt dry and her lips became so chapped that slightest movement they made caused them to crack open and bleed. Her infection had started to spread up to her ear and across her chest.

"How the fuck… how are you still so—

Riley would then start coughing at anything she tried to say. Ellie did her best to calm her by rubbing her back soothingly. Riley had started throwing up within the fourth hour; at first it was regular fluids and bile but then it started flowing out crimson. She was starting to lose a lot of blood. The room starting smelling rancid from all the bile and blood. Ellie would sustain a gag or two but did her best to swallow hers down.

"H-how is… i-is that even p-p-possible?" Riley asked with shaky broken breaths.

Nothing had changed in Ellie's condition. After the swelling and boils, nothing else mutated or numbed or felt cold. Her hair was still healthy and her skin looked the same healthy peach. It was freaking both of them out. This wasn't possible. No one has ever been infected and survived.

"Maybe the change is slower on me like I keep telling you."

"You know th-that's b-bullshit. M-maybe i-it's possible… maybe you're immune."

They had been talking about that possibility ever since Riley pointed out that she can't even move her legs after the third hour and yet Ellie could still probably run if she wanted to. But there was just no way… right? Riley started mentioning that she'd leave her behind and get out of here and find someone who could help her. But Ellie wouldn't have it.

"I told you I'm not leaving you. We're supposed to go crazy together remember?" Ellie always said. It wasn't she was afraid of leaving Riley behind to fend for herself but rather the idea of being all alone; that was the scariest thought.

As the first signs of early morning started to crack the black blanket, the Infected were started to become restless from outside of the room. Faint gunshots could be heard as well as Runners screaming. Ellie picked her head up from Riley's uninjured shoulder and looked toward the door.

"What's going on?"

There was no response.

"Riley?"

Silence.

"Riley?!" Ellie finally looked down.

Her stomach was barely moving to produce a breathing motion. Her brown eyes looked like they were starting to glaze over, as she her mouth slightly opened. Ellie immediately pulled her up by her jacket and she took her hand below her chin and turned her face to make her only friend look at her.

"No no no no no. Riley, Riley you can't do this to me yet. You can't leave me yet, "Ellie's voice thickened as she a felt a lump form in her throat, " We're supposed to be all poetic and lose our minds together remember? Y-you need to tell me what I n-need to do Riley." She closed her eyes as tears fell onto Riley's sunken cheeks.

"E-Ellie," Riley wheezed, "Y-you…you n-need to… need to g-get out of here…"

"No! I'm not fucking leaving you here to die!" Ellie shook her head furiously.

"Y-you got…got bit… a-and y-you're not… not i-infected. Th-there is…s-something special about… a-about you E-Ellie… you need… need t-to k-keep on living." She smiled weakly as she took the gun from Ellie's jacket pocket.

"I'm n-not g-going to t-turn into one of… those t-things by myself… When t-this thing goes off… the guards will h-hear. G-get a head s-start and run…"

"Run?! Run where?!" Ellie sobbed loudly. Her worst fears were coming true.

"Look for the l-light E-Ellie." Riley weakly pushed her towards the door.

Ellie looked at her friend with red eyes and a tear stained face. Riley only shook her head as she waved her off.

"C-come on Ellie. D-don't be a c-chickenshit. Be b-brave." Riley said as she gave her one last classic smirk.

That's when Ellie laughed as she wiped her face with her sleeve. She nodded as she stood up and walked to the door. She unlocked it with a quiet click. Riley had made up her mind and there was nothing Ellie could do about it. As she paused for a moment before swinging it open, it gave Riley one last thing to say.

"Just so you know… I'm g-glad I met you too Ellie."

Ellie bit her lower lip as she tried to hold back the sobs. The tears flowed uncontrollably, but she didn't look back. She wanted to keep the image of a healthy, cocky Riley in her mind. She pushed open the door and with the last glimpse of the flowing auburn hair, she was gone. Once the footsteps quieted off into the distance, Riley let out a cry in pain as she put a hand over her infected wound and applied hard pressure. The pain was growing too intense and had been for hours but she never let that be seen to Ellie. She didn't want her to worry more than she already had. But Ellie knew she was bullshitting. With her other hand, Riley picked up the revolver and checked inside. There was only one bullet. It was perfect. She cocked it back and put it against her forehead.

"W-who knows… m-maybe y-you'll end up s-saving mankind.." Riley whispered.

With that sudden thought in her mind, she became at peace with herself. She wasn't dying for nothing. She was going to send the cure to the Fireflies and save the world. That was enough for her to consider it a heroic act. If her sacrifice meant this, then she was going to accept her fate with grace and honor. She took a shaky breath and slowly counted down.

"Five…"

Ellie ran down the hall as fast as she could. Unfortunately, a runner caught sight and heard her loud steps and charged after her screaming. She looked back with fear in her eyes. She needed to find something quick.

"Four…"

The fourteen year old managed to out run it for the time being by taking twists and turns as she was able, but in the process turned too many times the wrong way and hit a dead end. The runner had knocked something over, grabbing the attention of the guards outside. Ellie swore out loud as she turned back around and ran towards the bookstore.

"Three…"

More Infected started seeing her from her reckless running and making too much noise. But she was in a full state of panic. Ellie entered the store and searched frantically until she found one of their discarded butterfly knives. As she took two of them down, the guards entered the abandoned mall, looking alert with their guns ready.

"Two…"

Another Runner was blocking the exit but she took care of it quickly by stabbing it in the rotting head. Her mind was at a complete stop with only Riley's words rang loud and clear in her ears. The sound of three slow clicks could be heard close to one of the guards.

"One…"

She finally found the place where they had originally entered from and started this risky exploration. She looked around in a panic as she tried to finds the small hole they had crawled in form. One of the guards saw her and triggered the red laser into her eyes. She looked into the light with fear as her knees started to shake.

"Hey! What're doin' here?!" he shouted.

Ellie made a run for it.

"Good luck… Ellie."

Riley pulled the trigger.

The sound was loud and echoed throughout the building. Clickers went into frenzy and Runners became aggravated and started running to the source of the noise. Ellie's heart broke in two and dropped into the pit of her stomach. The sudden noise made her trip on the uneven floor and fall . One of the guards started running towards her but a Clicker came between them and attacked the guard. Ellie saw her chance and jumped up to sprint.

"Freeze!" another guard yelled as he raised his gun.

But it only made her run faster. She wasn't going to die here. She wasn't going to let Riley's death be for nothing. The guard started shooting an Ellie ducked her head with every loud bang. She sprinted to the now visible nook. She ducked inside and moved fast through the tight space, getting cuts on her face and hands. She kicked the box that they had put to cover the opening and crawled out into the early morning light of orange and yellow. She sprinted again as fast as she was able to until she was back to the fork in the broken road that they had started from.

"Oh man…" Ellie panted as she fell to her knees.

What the hell happened? Just a few hours ago they were talking, laughing and making stupid jokes to one another and then suddenly everything went to shit. She felt like crying. She felt like throwing up. All she wanted to do was curl up in a little ball. She was in pain. She was tired. She was hungry.

Ellie was all alone.

"_Look for the l-light. Be brave…"_

As she picked her head up to stare at the road ahead, she immediately knew who she needed to find and talk to. Her only hope was that she didn't shoot her after she explained her situation. With bloodshot eyes and dark circles underneath them, she picked herself up and ran to the one person she had left in the world.

When they lost sight of her, the guards searched the area for anyone else who might be hiding in there or sunk inside. They came across the girl's restroom and the door was ajar. When they looked inside and saw a body, they looked down in sadness.

"Poor thing to go so young." One of them said.

"At least she was able to die of her own free will." said another when she squatted down and saw her face.

Her eyes were closed and there were remains of a faint smile on her face. The strange thing was, she had had headphones over her ears with music at the highest volume. She didn't want to hear the crack of the gun or the silence that came right before it. She wanted to drown herself in her best friend's favorite song. She wanted to die with something happy in her memory when she pulled that trigger. In her cold hand was the walkman, with splatter of crimson across the top, and underneath a pool at the bottom. One of the guards draped a sheet over her body and closed the door.

Her name was Riley. And she was the first to die.

* * *

**So there are go! :)**

**Hopefully you didn't cry too much. I literally had to walk away from my keyboard sometimes. Dx**

**Please R&R and let me know what you thought :)**

**Thanks for reading! :)**

**CrimsonButterfly726**


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